Awesome Foursome Quadrathlon — Saturday, September 21

WORCESTER’S Billy Butler produced the fastest time in the 17-year history of the Awesome Foursome Quadrathlon in Bude on Saturday, September 21.

Despite the weather conditions deteriorating by the minute, there was still an excellent turnout.

Last year Butler came in as the first individual but had two relay teams in front of him, this year he was determined to beat everyone.

He was second out of the swim with Andy Virgin, of Poundstock, just in front. During the cycle leg the relay team cyclists dominated with Bude’s Chris Hammond producing the fastest cycle time ever and putting his team into the lead.

But Butler, a GB team marathon canoeist, then made up over ten minutes on his rivals during the kayak section of the race and despite a legendary run from Bude’s Larry Newton in the final section, held on to be first over the line.

After the race Billy commented: “The open sea swim was much better than last year although it was hard swimming against such a strong off-shore wind, the cycle ride has some of the worst hills I’ve ever been on and the wind didn’t help at all on the return to Bude. The kayak leg was windy but I was able to put my paddling ability to the test here and gave it everything to get into the lead, and then it was all about holding on during the run.”

When asked by event organiser Simon Hammond of Shoreline Extreme Sports, whether he’d be back next year, Billy replied: “Of course, it sounds like Bude is going to host the British round of the World Quadrathlon Cup, so this will be the event to be at.”

The Awesome Foursome Quadrathlon held annually in Bude, combines the four disciplines of swimming, cycling, kayaking and running into one long endurance race.

Athletes enter either as relay teams of four, as a pair or as individuals completing the whole event by themselves. The race makes the most of the North Cornwall town’s wonderful environment and builds on the very popular Shoreline Triathlon which was run earlier in the year.

The swim course, approximately 1000 metres, takes place at high tide within Summerleaze Bay. The 30km cycle takes athletes out of Bude along the spectacular coastal roads to Widemouth, Wanson Mouth and the notorious 30% hill at Millook before returning the competitors back to the Bude and its historic canal.

Next comes 10km of kayak racing up and down the Bude Canal before the final 10km run stage following the towpath to Helebridge, fields to Widemouth and coastal path back to the finish in Bude’s lower canal wharf area.

Simon Hammond and his team at Shoreline Extreme Sports have been running this race for the last 17 years and said: “Its a really nice end of season event. We get lots of great local support both in terms of people volunteering to marshal and also plenty of local competitors.

“There are lots of races going on within the race, this year the pairs included Kevin and Mark who did half of every discipline each and also Steve and Sally who did every discipline together including using a tandem cycle and a double kayak. In the ‘Relay’ category Teamy McTeamface just held on to finish seconds ahead of Team 3 plus 1.”

With an early start this year at 10am, due to the tides, competitors were checking in at dawn! The fastest competitors were finishing in just under three hours, having completed the swim in around 20 minutes and then the cycle, kayak and run all taking around 50 minutes each.

The fastest times of the day were:

Individual Man — Billy Butler (two hours and 42 minutes); Individual Woman — Becky Robertson (3:12); Relay Team — Teamy McTeamface (2:47); Pairs — Andy and Sean (2:53).

All at Shoreline Extreme Sports were delighted with the race, with Simon adding: “Thanks to our sponsors Sampson Solicitors and The Beach at Bude and to all the many people that support us including the 26 local volunteers who brilliantly marshaled the course.

“Full race results can be found on the Shoreline Extreme Sports website.Next year’s race is already booked in for Saturday, September 12, and is likely to be Britain’s World Cup Series event.”